Peter Allen |
Peter Allen was an Australian songwriter, singer, pianist, and entertainer.
Peter Allen was born Peter Richard Woolnough; 10 February 1944 - 18 June 1992 in Tenterfield, New South Wales
Raised in Armidale, Peter's performing career began when he was eleven, playing the piano in the ladies' lounge of the New England Hotel. Educated at Armidale High School, he left school after his violent and alcoholic father committed suicide in November 1958, and moved to Lismore with his mother and sister.
In 1959 he went to Surfers Paradise to look for work and met Chris Bell, an English-born singer-guitarist of a similar age. Assisted by Bell's father, and inspired by the chart-topping Everly Brothers, they formed a singing duo called the 'Allen Brothers,' making their debut at the Grand Hotel in Coolangatta.
Within a year they were based in Sydney, had signed a recording contract, and reached a national audience through the television program Bandstand.
The Allen Brothers toured Australia and Asia. In 1964 the American singer and actress Judy Garland saw them performing at the Hong Kong Hilton and invited them to be the opening act for her upcoming concert tour of the United States of America.
Chris and Peter Allen, as they became known, performed in American nightclubs for the rest of the decade, releasing their only album in 1968. On 3 March 1967 in New York, Peter married Garland's daughter, the singer and actress Liza Minnelli. They separated in 1970 when Allen acknowledged his homosexuality, and were divorced in 1974.
In 1970 Allen also parted ways with Chris Bell and pursued a solo career. Initially performing at small clubs in New York and Los Angeles, he formed a song-writing partnership with Carole Bayer Sager that produced a number of enduring favourites, including 'Don't Cry Out Loud' (1976).
His songs were increasingly performed by other artists: Olivia Newton-John's recording of 'I Honestly Love You,' which Allen co-wrote with Jeff Barry, topped the American charts and earned two Grammy awards in 1974, including Record of the Year. In 1977 'I Go To Rio,' from his successful album Taught by Experts (1976), was a hit in Australia, France, and Brazil.
Allen's biggest successes came in the early 1980s. He presented a series of concerts at New York's Radio City Music Hall in 1981, becoming the first male performer to dance with the venue's famous dance troupe, the Rockettes. In 1982 (with Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, and Christopher Cross) he won an Academy award for best original song, for 'Arthur's Theme' (from the film Arthur, starring Dudley Moore and Minnelli).
His fame and popularity also grew in Australia, which he visited frequently. During his 1980 tour, a Festival Records executive, Alan Hely, noticing that Allen closed his shows by saying 'I still call Australia home,' suggested it would make a good song title. Allen agreed and the song became his best loved. His greatest career disappointment was the failure of his musical, Legs Diamond, which was savaged by critics after its premiere on Broadway in 1988.
Allen was charismatic if not conventionally handsome: he had a prominent nose and chin and a receding hairline, but a warm smile and a lithe frame, which was often clad in his trademark Hawaiian shirts. A cheeky, exuberant performer, he was open about his homosexuality at a time when many of his contemporaries were not.
From around 1970 he was in a relationship with Greg Connell, a male model from Texas who later worked as the sound and light designer on Allen's live shows. According to Allen's biographer, Connell was 'Peter's big love' (Maclean 1996, 166). Connell died from AIDS in 1984.
In 1990 Allen was appointed AM in recognition of his contribution to the performing arts. Diagnosed with throat cancer during a tour of Australia in January 1992, he died of AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma on 18 June 1992 in San Diego, California. The prime minister of Australia, Paul Keating, paid tribute to Allen's 'songs of sensitivity which struck an emotional chord with his fellow Australians' (Jones and Hallett 1992, 11).
In 1993 he was posthumously inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame. His life was retold in a musical, The Boy From Oz (1998), written by Nick Enright and featuring Allen's greatest hits. The National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, holds a tender portrait (1980) of Allen by the photographer William Yang.
Although a stunningly flamboyant performer himself, most of his renown in the United States was the result of performances and recordings of his songs by others: among the two dozen well-known singers who covered his material were Frank Sinatra, Bobby Sherman, Anne Murray, Peggy Lee, Dusty Springfield, Carly Simon, Dionne Warwick, Patti LaBelle, Maureen McGovern, Judy Collins, Glenn Yarbrough, Karen Akers, Bernadette Peters, Melissa Manchester, and Olivia Newton-John.
Along with Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, and Christopher Cross, Allen won an Oscar for Best Original Song, "Arthur's Theme: Best That You Can Do," from the 1981 film Arthur. His many albums enjoyed enormous popularity in Australia, and his cabaret and concert career encompassed three sold-out appearances at Radio City Music Hall.
Obituary: Allen, Peter (1944-1992)
Australia's entertainment industry is mourning the sudden death in the US of singer, dancer and songwriter Peter Allen.
Allen, 48, had died of an AIDS-related illness in San Diego, his personal assistant, Bruce Cudd, said. He died about 5am Canberra time yesterday.
Australia had lost one of its greatest entertainers, the publicist of Allen's last Australian tour, Lionel Midford, said. Allen had been a true professional.
Allen cut short his Australian tour in January after having had throat cancer diagnosed. He had a large tumour removed and he returned to the US for treatment.
"He was so professional and wonderful and, even though he was sick, he put on one of the best shows," Mr Midford said.
"Australia has lost one of its greatest talents."
His song I Still Call Australia Home is known nationally.
A veteran Australian singer, Judy Stone, said she was still shocked by the news of her friend. They performed on the television entertainment show Bandstand.
"He was a great performer and he kept performing right up till his operation - you can't get much better than that," said Ms Stone, who also had throat cancer.
"We were both in St Vincent's Hospital [Sydney] in January, and ... had our throats operated on by the same surgeon on the same day.
"He came into my room to see me because he was going back to the States and I just wanted to give him a big hug - he looked so ill.
"We were always taught in Australia that the show must go on and Peter epitomised that."
Former colleagues on Bandstand hoped some sort of service could be held for Allen in Australia.
Ms Stone said that although she was on recovering from her throat operation the news of Allen's death had "knocked the wind out of my sails".
Allen's mother, Marion Woolnough, who lives in Sydney, was too upset to comment.
Channel Nine news-reader Brian Henderson, the former Bandstand host, refused to comment too.
Allen was born in Tenterfield, northern NSW, on February 10, 1944.
He began performing on Australian Bandstand when he was 15 as one of the Allen Brothers.
He went to Hong Kong in 1964, and was discovered there by Judy Garland.
She saw him sing at a hotel, took him to London and got him work there with her.
He went later to the United States, where he met Garland's daughter, Liza Minelli, whom he married in 1967. They divorced in the 1970s.
Allen's best known songs include I Go To Rio, Copacabam, I Honestly Love You and Quiet Please, There's A Lady On Stage.
❊ Web Links ❊
➼ Peter Allen
➼ www.wikipedia.org
➼ obituary: www.anu.edu.au
➼ biography: www.anu.edu.au
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